Retch Factor 8
Retch Factor 8 Experimental Psychedelic-Rock-Jazz-Funk-Fusion-Soul-Country-Electronica-Samba-Americana-Chamber-Bluegrass band. The name was picked from a list of 100 names Baboo Yarzospateflute brought to the band after working too many third shifts. History Retch Factor 8 (RF8) formed in the late-90's as a side project of The Smiling Cats during an extended hiatus while that group's vocalist, Cornelius McFeeley, travelled the globe in an ultimately futile attempt to corner the silk worm market. Retch Factor 8 started as a collaboration between 3 members of The Smiling Cats as a way to tell a rather unique story in the context of a rock opera. The main outline of the story was written by Pierre Cachuettes and Baboo Yarzospateflute. It involves the classic struggle of good versus evil and the consequences - yet it is also not restricted to that theme alone. It is a diverse, timeless tale that revolves around the many colorful characters that resided in the twisted world of The Smiling Cats. Pierre and Baboo introduce us to such unforgettable characters as Janet, the Kiwi God, the Buttered Slugs, Phil, and a bevy of celebrity cameos who interact on a colossal, world-wide level. This is truly an epic of titanic proportions that has, and always will have, an enormous effect on popular culture as we know it. The project itself started innocently enough with Pierre and Baboo collaborating on a short composition entitled Cowfucker. This short piece would be the seed that would eventually spawn the rock opera concept album. The boys knew they had something good as soon as the recording was finished. However, they also knew that it was something altogether different than what The Smiling Cats were used to doing. This would not deter them. At this time, they realized they needed to form a side band. They gave themselves new names to avoid confusion. Pierre would be Mark Uranus, Baboo would be Roger Neptune and Nigel would be Steve Pluto. Then they started thinking about what they had done. They shook their heads when they thought about the evilness that just spilled out of their collective heads. Despite knowing that most of the civilized world would shun them, and quite possibly harm them with sticks, rocks, bottles, pointy things, blunt objects, round things that they found under such objects as beds, breakfast foods, small shards of glass, elephant rifles, bb guns, super soakers, bazookas, thermonuclear devices and stuff, they trudged on. Writing of the outline of the rock opera concept album began in earnest on July 14, 1998. They soon realized that they had gone in over their heads and would need the services of (Sir) Nigel Burgandyham. Nigel was known to have a thesaurian knowledge of music. He could, when prompted by rewards of rock candy, give several other names for music. Sometimes he would babble incoherently in another language, much to the delight of the assembled masses that would ritualistically make the pilgrimage to the recording facilities of The Smiling Cats - known affectionately as The Hyperbolic Chamber of Silliness. The inclusion of Nigel in the proceedings turned out to be a stroke of genius. At first the boys meandered aimlessly with the project, but with Nigel in tow they now moseyed aimlessly. Nigel jumped in feet first by immediately playing a phat, phunky bass line on a right handed bass, which isn’t that impressive until you find out that Nigel is left handed. Baboo has been known to refer to this bass line as "the upside down bass line thingy". No one knew why but it was suspected he ate too much lead paint as a kid. Once all of them got together, ideas started pouring out of their evil, little, pointy heads. Pierre was producing the masterpiece and he spared no expense. Backwards recordings dotted the musical landscape of the album. Hidden surprises could be found at every turn. His mastery of the 4 track became legendary. Nightly he would receive calls from other musicians wanting to participate in their sublime project. I don’t want to name drop but let’s just say that they got phone calls from Lou Reed, Lars Ulrich, Celine Dion, Jimi Hendrix, Burt Bacharach, Wayne Newton, Jon Bon Jovi, Tiny Tim, all the members of Men At Work, Weird Al Yankovic, and KC from KC and the Sunshine Band, amongst others. They indiscriminately turned them all down except for Celine Dion. But when she showed up and rang the doorbell, they hid behind the couch and snickered at her until she left in shame, completely humiliated by the snub. At this point they convinced their one "guest" to make a cameo. Pimp Daddy Drew sat in on his guitar cord for a composition he wrote. Mr. Daddy looked a little bewildered but he was game. He ripped off 3 consecutive cord solos that would have shamed the master of all chord solos, if there was such a person. Recording would be completed on July 31, 1998 when Nigel revealed his prowess on his true instrument of choice - the accordion. He broke out "Betsy" after much egging on from his mates and boy were they amused. The shiny pearl inlay borders, the ebony and ivory keys, those black button doohickeys on the back, that mysterious knob that seemed to have no purpose, all these things contributed to the mystique of that accordion. Nigel played, No! - made love to that accordion. It sounded like gods singing. It was the true cherry on top of what is destined to become the best selling record of all time, Speed of Dark. As if one masterpiece was not enough, RF8 then created their second album - The Cheese Album. This album marked a very special time for the members of RF8. First, the crew was graced with the addition of the vocal and keyboard stylings of veteran Smiling Cat, Dieter Brouhaha. Second, this album tells the story of a much maligned entity in modern society - Cheese. Yes, this concept album consists of 16 tightly organized pieces of music with one central theme - Cheese. Completed in December of 1998, this album is a story that RF8 had been burning to tell for a long time. As the millennium approached, it seemed to be overshadowed by an even more important event - the June 1999 release of RF8's third project called Retch Factor 8 in the Nth Dimension. As with the two previous releases, this one broke new ground again. First, they were joined by veteran Smiling Cat, Cornelius McFeeley, and his vocal stylings. Second, with the help of a whole new array of recording and sound processing gear, the members of RF8 were able to explore many new wonderful musical avenues - such as more elaborate layering, more usage of stereo effects, and a more diverse collection of sound-making devices (if that's even possible). RF8 was very excited about this project & hopes you were too. Despite their initial prolific output, the group struggled to complete their fourth album Gravy. More studio upgrades, multiple side projects, an attempt to resurrect The Smiling Cats & life in general conspired against them, but the album was completed and released in 2002 to worldwide acclaim. Though considered uneven by critics, the album includes many fan favorites, including the chart topping single Teaching Apples How to Fly. During the extended recording of Gravy the group also contributed to the internet projects Cover It With Gas & Set It On Fire: A Tribute To Ween, Cover It With Gas & Set It On Fire: A Tribute To Ween Volume Deux, AMW III: Enough Dick, Hoarse Platitudes in the Court of the Boognish King, Endangered Feces Volume 1: The Chronicles of the Dingleberry Kid, Endangered Feces II: The Dingleberry Kid Rides Again, Dark Side of the Boognish, Revulva & Pure Guano. They also released 2 albums of outtakes, Scrapilations & Scrapilations II. The group disbanded in late 2003 after what has since been canonized as their greatest live performance on Halloween 2003. From the ashes Baboo, Pierre & Cornelius reformed as Stonefrog & subsequently released one album, Cup of Frog in 2004. Starting in late 2004, they were joined by guitarist Stig McNasty and formed the ubersupergroup Heavy Rock Outfit. Their defining masterpiece, The Robot Wars of the 21st Century was almost completed when Stig was lost to a bizarre gardening accident in 2005. The rest, as they say, is history... Members Baboo Yarzospateflute - Bass Pierre Cachuettes - Drums Nigel Burgandyham - Guitar Cornelius McFeeley - Vocals Dieter Brouhaha - Keyboards Contributors Stig McNasty - Guitar Pimp Daddy Drew - Guitar Anton Dungerhill - Bass Photos: Hpic21.jpg|'Retch Factor 8' Halloween 1999 - Cornelius McFeeley singing as Frankenstein in the middle, Baboo Yarzospateflute to the left as a vampire on bass, and Nigel Burgandyham to the right on guitar - looking more like an accident victim than the mummy he was trying to be. Unfortunately, there are no clear shots of Pierre Cachuettes on drums. He was hidden behind a pole and some equipment - he was the Wolfman. Hpic1.jpg|'Retch Factor 8' Halloween 1999- Baboo on bass and an official groupie to the left. Yes - RF8 had an official groupie. Just one, but at least they had one. Hpic31.jpg|'Retch Factor 8' Halloween 1999 Hpic4.jpg|'Retch Factor 8' Halloween 1999 - If you squint really hard and pretend, you can almost see Pierre behind the neck of Nigel's guitar on the right. Category:Band Category:RF8 Category:Retch Factor 8